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April 18, 2007

In a recent Statement Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru and son of Sonia & Rajib Gandhi) credited his family with the independence of India and break-up of Pakistan. Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi defended him:

The spirit of Rahul Gandhi's statement was to remind and underline Indira Gandhi's remarkable victory over Pakistan in 1971 war which made India proud.

Bangladesh is grateful to India for sheltering the refugees, training the freedom fighters, pursued International support for Bangladesh and in the dying days engaged in a direct war with Pakistan. But was it to break Pakistan? No India was overburdened with the feeding the refugees. And if your neighbors were being slaughtered in a mass number what would a democratic country do? They went for the demons. Indira Gandhi deserves much praise for the right decisions. But she was only the leader of the democracy, the country had wide support for her decisions.

Bangladesh came into being due to the movement of its people, not because of the Gandhi family as claimed by Rahul Gandhi. Nobody from outside can ever divide or create any country. It was the movement of the local people that brought freedom to Bangladesh.

However Rahul Gandhi's remarks have put smiles to some quarters in Pakistan who blames India for meddling with Pakistan's internal affair and breaking Pakistan. Secretary general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed says:

Rahul Gandhi was the first Indian "who has told the truth of 1971". India's strategy was clear from day one, namely, to partition its neighbour through sponsorship of state terrorism. India created and armed the Mukti Bahini, a Bengali militia which fought the Pakistani troops, just as it created and armed the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka" in the 1980s.

Rahul's remarks also came under attack from main Opposition BJP in India. It seems he has spoken too many words to handle.

A remark from my Indian friend:

It seems that Rahul Gandhi is trying to fan sycophancy and get election mileage by juicing the Gandhi name. He has no clue about history.